An Unexpected Gift

It was my mom’s birthday, just a couple days after we had been offered the puppy and Mom and I were getting anxious for my dad’s reply. We wondered if maybe he would say yes today, since it’s my mom’s birthday…

My mom was sitting at the dining table, scrolling through Facebook on her phone and drinking her caramel coffee.

I walked in after catching up on some blogs I follow on the computer and said, “I wonder if daddy’s gonna say yes today…”

Mom looked at me and lightly shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know.” She replied. We chatted a while longer and a text message popped up on my mom’s phone from my dad. My heart started to race. He was never on his phone at work, only when he called my mom at lunch. Maybe he was just saying “Happy Birthday”, but my hopes were raised.

I watched anxiously as my mom read her text and a smile spread across her face and her fingers began typing back.

“What did he say?” I asked with a heart full of hope.

My mom smiled at me and said, “He said ‘Have decided to let you have the puppy. Happy Birthday, I love you!'”

I started to cry and squealed and I gave my mom a huge hug. I couldn’t believe he actually said yes! And that this was even real! We were getting a puppy!!

“Are you going to tell everybody today?” I inquired. “Yeah, I think so! Probably at dinner.” She replied. “I wonder how Dallas will take it…” I said, thinking about my brother who had just lost his dog almost a year ago. I know it still hurt him, so I wondered how he would feel about having another dog around.

“He’ll probably be how I was. Maybe a little sad at first, but then happy to have a puppy around again.” Mom replied.

Hey everyone! I’m starting a little series here and I’ll probably get each part up weekly or maybe twice a week. And no, Sadie’s Hope is not cancelled. We’re hoping to have the next part up by next week sometime 🙂 So without further ado, I present to you – “An Unexpected Gift”

One morning, Annika and her mom had just finished watching an episode of Star Wars Rebels together on the iPad. “Oh, my gosh!! We still have no answers!!” Annika complained.

“It was SO good, though, but I just wanna watch more!” She giggled as she leaned forward on the couch to get up.

Annika’s mom went on her phone to see a FaceBook message and Annika leaned in to read it, too. It said,
“Hi Riven-Delle! I remember reading a while back that you lost your doggy, and I wanted to offer to gift you a Labrador Retriever puppy! She’s due in a few days, so let me know 🙂 ”

“Wow… That is so sweet.” Mom breathed in her awe and sad struck daze. Since it was nearing a year since their last dog’s passing, she felt really sad thinking about her.

“She’s offering to GIFT it to us?” Annika asked, making sure she read that right. “Yeah, gift.” Mom repeated. “Oh, my gosh! That is so nice…” Annika said, her voice trailing off. She thought of how sweet that lady was to offer to do that. She thought of her brother’s dog that passed away almost a year ago. And she realized how much she wanted to have a dog again. “I wish we could take it… We can’t, huh?” She asked.

“I don’t know. I don’t think so.” Mom replied. Annika felt sad inside. She knew that her dad wouldn’t want a dog again, because he had said so before, but she remembered him asking her a question just the other day… “You know it’s so interesting that this comes up now. Daddy asked me the other day – Mom wants another dog, huh? And I told him – yeah. Isn’t that interesting that this comes up just a few days after?” Annika said. Mom’s eyes widened. “Yeah.. When did he ask you that?” She inquired. “On Saturday when we went shopping for your birthday.” Annika replied. They sat in silence for a moment and Annika said, “It would be so amazing to have a puppy again. To love and cuddle and for it to love us…”

Mom agreed and started to cry. Annika knew exactly what she was thinking about.

Annika placed her arm around her mom’s shoulder and began crying, too. She missed pup, too.

“Do you want the puppy?” Annika asked her mom. “You, know, I had planned on never getting another dog. I didn’t want one, and I didn’t think it would ever happen, but this has totally opened up my heart. Yeah, I want it. And I had planned on finally cleaning up all of pup’s stuff after a year passed and selling her crate, too.” Mom replied through her tears. “Wow! That’s so interesting! It’s like, daddy asked me that question, then you had been planning to get rid of pup’s stuff, and then this lady offers to give us a puppy! Something we couldn’t even afford to buy! It’s almost like, this is meant to be.” Annika smiled, then asked, “Are you gonna talk to Daddy about it?”

“Yeah, I’ll bring it up when he calls me at lunch.” Mom answered.

As Annika was waiting for her lunch, she was telling her friend all about the puppy and all that happened. Her mom was on the phone with her dad, and she was so anxious to hear his answer!

Then she noticed her mom coming out of the hall with a smile on her face. “What happened?” Annika asked hopefully.

Mom sat down beside her daughter and said, “He told me that the reason he asked you if I wanted a dog is because he wanted to bring me a little puppy on my birthday. But he got to thinking about it all realistically and decided that it wouldn’t work out.” Annika thought it was so sweet of her dad to want to do that for her mom, but she got disappointed. “So it’s a no?” She inquired. “He’s thinking about it. He told me not to say no yet.” Mom replied with a smile.

Annika placed her hand over her mouth as happy tears entered her eyes. “Oh, my gosh!! I’m so excited!! He’s actually thinking about it!!” Annika exclaimed as tears ran down her cheeks. Annika and her mom both cried and squealed and talked more about the puppy. When mom went in the kitchen to reply to the lady, Annika grabbed her iPod and texted her friend.

***NOTE- Please click on the pictures to see the messages more clearly 🙂

They texted so much that day about puppies! Annika’s mom also said that she was thinking about breeding! When Annika went to bed that night, she prayed hard about the puppy. She prayed that if it was God’s will that they have another puppy, then that the answer would come quickly and that they would have the love and patience and strength to do this.